Of Dogs and Puppets
by IngridIguana13
Summary: What if Sephiroth had a little sister? Not a remnant, not this girl. Slight AU. Original Character. Hints of SephCloud. Rated T for language, but could change in later chapters.
1. Kitty

AN: This is my first fic ever so criticism is accepted and welcome. If you read this I love you bunches Xx 3

It had been a month since her last mako treatment had been carried out, and it was incredible how she had even managed to evade Hojo and his goons for as long as that. She despised the showers and the needles that came when she entered the lab. The nurses always probed and prodded her and stuck her like some kind of animal, simply being held in the lab like the test subject she was. Her blood samples could be in numerous different labs right now and she would never know. She was property of ShinRa Inc, not a person with feelings and wants. She was Hojo's perfect little test subject, and his greatest pride since Brother, so she was locked up in ShinRa headquarters to be 'kept safe.' But she was not a perfect little girl. By the age of fifteen, she had broken out of the lab a total of twenty-three times, and the headquarters thirteen, and every time the security would be upped and the locks would change, and she would get a stern talking to from the mad scientist himself. She had to live up to her brother's standards or she would be deemed a failure.

Her long silvery-blonde hair lay still against her back as she sat reluctantly on the exam table, waiting for Hojo or one of his many doctors or assistants to come reprimand her for skipping out on so many appointments. Four, to be exact, but she had been training the whole time. It wasn't like she had take the month off to vacation in Costa Del Sol. Yeah, her training wasn't necessarily supervised by professional bodyguards or ShinRa, but she definitely improved on some of her skills. And she had gotten a new weapon from Wall Market, which was training in itself, no matter how reckless. It was totally kick ass though; she had fought long and hard for that weapon. _And those guys didn't think a sixteen year old girl could beat them in a game of poker,_ she thought to herself as she admired her brand new, meteor embedded, longsword from across the lab. The length of the blade was slightly curved and the blunt side was lined with the glistening metal of a fallen space rock. Supposedly it was from a really long time ago. All she knew was that it sounded and looked really fucking awesome. The hilt was wrapped in faded russet leather that was worn in several places from use. _Brother is gonna flip when he sees this!_

"Nym, I'm disappointed in you," scolded the spectacled scientist as he trudged into the lab, "Why must all my greatest successes be so badly behaved?"

"It's cause you keep us in cages just like the rest of your many failures," she mentioned cheekily, tilting her head to the side to grin at the now angered professor, "Sir."

"You ungrateful little brat!" His anger made her grin wider, this was exactly the reaction she wanted and he was falling right into it. His fist twitched by his side and the wide grin disappeared off of her face, straightened into an emotionless glare.

"So you're gonna hit me now, Hojo? That's no way to treat your precious child, your little treasure." Green mako made its way from her blood into her already bright eyes, cat-like pupils made themselves more obvious, and her silver hair became almost luminescent. "Do it, Hojo. Hit me. There aren't any of your body guards here to protect you from the monster you've created." A more maniacal smile appeared suddenly across the teen's thin features and she raised her arms up as if to gesture to herself and her 'father' at the same time, her legs swinging gleefully off the side of the exam table, "There's nothing stopping you from doing it."

"Calm down, sister," Nym froze, her eyes immediately returning to their original mako green, minus the cat features, "Do not get worked up over this madman's whims."

"Yes, Brother. It's good to see you. What brings you down to our humble abode?" The sarcasm dripped from her words like honey from a spoon. It sweetened every sour situation she found herself in, including the current affair. She opened her arms welcomingly to the obviously morbid lab and the still shaking professor.

To Sephiroth, Nym had always been a weak point his emotionless facade. It was like he felt she was the only one who could truly understand the person he was. Not that he frequently expressed those thoughts, in fact, not even she knew. But it seemed she was the same way towards him. He smiled at his sister's insane and erratic attitude, but knew that being on the other end of her drama was nothing but trouble. However, he also couldn't help but snicker at Hojo's infuriated scowl.

"How nice to see you, Sephiroth. You never bother to visit down here anymore." Hojo managed to regain his cool after several seconds delay. Straightening out his sterile lab coat, he made several short strides to his cluttered desk to grab a menacing looking syringe. "You have the other doctors take care of your treatments. It seems quite like you've been avoiding me." Still facing the General, he strolled calmly over to Nym and proceeded to stab the green-filled needle into her unsuspecting arm.

"FUCKER!" She cried out, nearly punching the doctor in her surprise, "That almost hit the bone you asshole!"

"Now Nym, young ladies aren't to use such foul language." _Revenge_, he thought while chuckling to himself. _She'll think twice...Wait, who am I talking about? She never thinks twice._

Trying to hide his laughter, Sephiroth turned to address both the doctor and his cursing patient. "Believe it or not, I did not just come down here to visit. Several of the higher ranking SOLDIER officers, including myself, have agreed that Nym should start missions with the rest of this newest set of 3rds. She's no doubt advanced enough to skip being a cadet. Unless you want to be a cadet of course, Nym?" He turned to his younger sister awaiting her answer.

"Hell! I don't care if I'm a cadet, or a 3rd Class, or a dishwasher. Just get me out of this lab!" He knew that hesitation was not in her nature, and her answer was never questioned in his head. He then turned to Hojo, expecting a man full of pride in his success, but instead he found the man sneering at his patient.

"She's not ready yet."

"What do you mean I'm not ready yet?! I'm fucking perfect! Apart from my mouth. My fighting is perfect, so is my materia use, my strategy developing skills, and I can be just like Sephy if I want to! See!" Her face suddenly went serious and stern, and she once again started talking, this time in a more controlled, authoritative manner, "I am completely ready for this Professor Hojo."

_Wow, she's good. It's like a smaller, girl version of me. Wait, she just called me Sephy..._

"Nym, if you could refrain from calling me that, I would greatly appreciate it."

"Yes, sir. I apologize if I offended you in any way." The smirk on her face was hidden from Hojo, but it was completely obvious to Sephiroth, and it was the only thing that clued him into her sarcasm.

"Fine, fine! But I don't want any funny business. You need to be completely mature with your superiors and I also don't want you in the barracks with the rest of the 3rds. Sephiroth, could you get her an apartment in headquarters, preferably close to your own. I'll need you to keep track of her. I'm almost positive she doesn't listen to anyone otherwise."

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to arrange something so drastic, but since she is my little sister and another of your favourites, I might be able to get something past ShinRa Boarding." Sephiroth looked around, his eyes settling on the bright bleeding red mark on his sister's arm. "Are you done with Nym? I'd like to introduce her to a couple of my colleagues." His glowing green eyes were ice cold once again as he addressed his former caretaker. He hated to see his only relative bleed. It was something he wasn't used to, almost like he was protective of her. She was going through the same thing he used to have to put up with as a child.

"Yes, she's done." Hojo answered just as coldly.

"Thank you, professor." And with that and an internal double fist to the air the two left the lab, both glad to be done with the scientist.

The two siblings ventured out of their now previous guardian's domain and down the silent hallway attached to the lab. Several silent, vacant cells lined the sides of the passageway, but the one on the end was occupied. It was Nym's. One might say it was morbid to live one's first sixteen years in a cell, but it was what she was used to, and it was, in fact, her favourite part of the lab. Not that she truly liked any part of it. Even though Nym had very few belongings besides weapons, she held the ones she did have very close to her heart. It made her feel a little less like a mindless weapon and more like a human being. The small wing lay gracefully against her throat was a token of a trip to one of the sectors with her brother when he was still a lower rank SOLDIER. He had bought it for her in a small item shop and it held a single bead of materia, her first one. That was almost ten years ago now.

Opening the door of the cell, she sighed; her cell really didn't look much different from the others. The bed was made and the floor was littered with various swords, knives, guns, ammo, the occasional ax, a carbon fiber bow, and a large hunting harpoon. It really was hazardous, she would have tidied up if she knew Sephy was going to be in here.

"Do you know how to use all of these?" Sephiroth balked, bowing his head to step inside the small cell.

"Yep, I'm still a little shotty with the harpoon, but I've pretty much mastered all of the other ones. It's amazing what you can accomplish when you're only allowed to train, but I'm better than all my mentors now, so it's boring. They won't let me train with anyone cool, just Hojo's goons." Sephiroth handed her several of the longer swords to put on a small rack, rigged across her back. Each of them fit in a precise spot to allow easy handling during battle. After putting them in their correct spots she leaned down to check under the bed, pulling out several pairs of gloves and countless other instruments of torture that Sephiroth had no name for.

"You're gonna be quite the SOLDIER, Nym. I'm not sure how everyone's going to handle you."

"It's okay. Can you help me develop my fan base? Because I'm gonna be better than you someday, Brother." A wide grin was spread across her face as she threw the weapons into a shoulder bag. "I think that's all I have to pack." On her back was the majority of her larger weapons, and two smaller bags hung on her arms with smaller knives and deadly toys. She placed everything on the small cot then spun quickly back around. "Oh, I forgot I wanted to show you my new katana!" A grin spreading across her face, "I won it in a card game."

"You won it where?"

"Wall Market." She didn't see what the big deal was about that place. She wasn't dumb enough to get caught up in any trouble.

"Wall Market..." Sephiroth placed his hands across his eyes, why did she have to be such a handful. He couldn't stand the thought of his baby sister associating herself with the scum that walk those streets. There was so much gambling and prostitution down there, she could fall into the hands of some creep, like Don Corneo, or she could get scammed.

"Yep, that's what I said." Lowering his hand, the General let out a long, exasperated sigh. _I really am going to have to watch over her this whole time_, he thought, shaking his head.

"Fine, let me see it," he said with a doubt that the sword was actually as great as Nym believed it to be, but she did seem to be quite the weapons expert. The petite soldier pulled the sword quickly off the rack sitting next to her and unsheathed it. Then, like it was something she did everyday, she lunged at the general, low and lightning quick. Even with his perfect eyes and reflexes, it was nearly impossible for Sephiroth to comprehend the speed of the seventeen year old girl attacking him. There was hardly enough time to draw masamune for the block. No one out draws the General Sephiroth.

The harsh clang of metal on metal echoed throughout the narrow prison-like hallway. "Sorry Sephy, I couldn't resist."

"Just let me see the sword, Nym." He felt the mako pour through his veins like adrenaline might in a civilian. _She's more advanced than I gave her credit for_, he thought, contemplating his own surprise. _Leagues above those SOLDIER 3rd Classes who still need help blowing their noses. At least she'll rise through the ranks quickly. _Nym jumped back from the clash, lowering her sword and handing it to her brother, making sure to cradle the blade in her palm. The elder sibling took the handle in his skilled hands and tilted the edge so the minimal light in the room struck the side, causing it to be refracted all over the room.

"What's it made of?" Sephiroth questioned, gaining interest in his sister's irresponsibly acquired weapon. The dark metal seemed strong, but incredibly light and easy to use, and from the show Nym had given him, fast and effective.

"It's Thunderbolt Iron from a fallen meteor from the North Continent. It was forged only a couple miles from the site of the impact. And it's really old, so that makes it even cooler." The sneer slowly disappeared from Sephiroth's harsh features and he, once again, sighed. _She's going to be quite the handful, for sure._

"I'm not saying I approve of your means of receiving this weapon, but it certainly is quite magnificent." With his eyes lingering on the dark blade, he handed it reluctantly back to its maybe not so rightful owner. _A poker game...She's clever, that girl_. The sword was quickly taken and sheathed back in into its designated place on the rack, which she then threw on and then proceeded to run out of the room. He promptly followed her, pondering how he ever ended up with a sister so completely different from himself. And her caretakers. And any other borderline sane person out there. At least she hadn't taken after Hojo. Gaia help them all if she had.

Cautiously, he followed her, as she was the only opponent he could never truly calculate. No one he had ever met had ever been so erratic. She worked well on her own, but properly following orders definitely wasn't her thing. She _probably_ wouldn't attack him again within the hour, but nothing was for sure with that girl.

"Nym? Do you have any idea where you're going?

"Not a clue, brother. I'm just happy to get out of that storage closet. It was beginning to, as they say, 'cramp my style' and my arsenal." His supply of exasperated sighs was surely running low because he responded simply.

"I'm going to formally introduce you to all the important people that are going to boss you around for the rest of your time here. You're going to behave and not pull anything, right? It'll make my life a lot easier if you do."

"Fine, I'll behave, but at a price," she said with a clever and evil smirk on her face, "You have to find me a real training partner. I know you can't train with me yourself cause you're always so busy, but I need to improve my hand to hand. Also…I want fully refined fira and a back massage.

"Is that all?" Her brother inquired with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes, that is all, unless you can get your hands on a materia based ignition for…a project of mine."

"That, is a definite no. Even if I did want you building a high powered death mobile, I don't have the time to look for something so specific." She eyed him with the most evil, despicable puppy dog face she could muster. "Nym, you're going to put me in an early grave…but I might know someone you can talk to about the ignition-" Before he could finish he was met with a potentially bone crushing hug, for a normal person at least, and a face full of weapon rack.

"You're the best brother ever, Sephy!"

"Ahem, I wasn't finished. I was going to say that you'll have to hold up your side of the bargain before you get anything at all. I expect you to be as professionals you can be." As Sephiroth spoke, Nym let go of his shoulders and straightened her back and jacket, finishing with a proper salute.

"I'll be at my best, General Sephiroth, sir."

"I'm going to pretend that wasn't sarcasm. Come on, we have a lot of people to see…Many of which will be more than troublesome."


	2. Puppy

AN~ Thanks a bunch for reading the first chapter, if you did. I don't normally like OCs so I guess I'm being kind of hypocritical by writing this, but I try to be funny. I like making Sephiroth look oblivious to everything that doesn't involve leading an army, so heads up to that. This chapter's a bit shorter. I had to throw in a cliffhanger. Enjoy!

The silver headed SOLDIER 3rd class stood quietly in the executive lift next to the general, who though appearing completely calm, was giving off a light sense of agitation. It was one of Nym's more obscured talents to be able to judge an emotional climate almost as well as her brother could judge a battle. It wasn't needed much in the lab because most of the time everyone was the same. Most often it was fear, confusion at a close second. She really was a strange child. Her story was almost the same as Sephiroth's, never having met her mother, being raised by Hojo, in the lab, and being totally cut off from having a normal childhood. It was easy to say that she found ways to amuse herself, most often at the expense of the medical staff.

There was the time that she got her hands on donor blood and squirted the stuff all over her room and on herself, then sat down to play with the minimal toys she was given like nothing was out of place. She didn't particularly like the smell of the stuff, but for the reaction she got after, she deemed it completely worth it. The nurse in charge of her came into the cell to give her dinner and saw the wreckage, staying conscious only in time to realize that it was in fact human blood and not just the imitation, costume type. Her fun was brought to an end after Hojo decided to finally show his face, but that was after she had half the nurses running around, trying to find a non-existent body. She was six years old and her punishment was three days without food and an excruciatingly painful experiment on how long it would take for two broken legs to heal while doing squats. She didn't see what the results of that test would bring Hojo other than a crying six year old.

Her pranks weren't always so morbid. She once shortened all the chairs in the staff lounge by five centimeters, so when everybody went to sit down, they would get that terrible feeling of falling a little further than expected. Hojo was mostly only mad because she had used a bone saw to execute her plan, but she was forced to clean all the animal cells, even the ones that were in use. Probably not the smartest idea, Hojo most likely realized when he was nearly trampled by the seven year old riding a three legged monkey.

That was before she had started sneaking out. She began honing her stealth and evasion skills just after she turned nine, and three weeks later she was found for the first time in the General's Mess kitchen having a conversation with the cook about how to cook the perfect lasagna.

But now she was finally free. She didn't have break out of the lab anymore because she was out for good, well at least until her next check up, but that wouldn't be for at least a month. She was going into SOLDIER and her brother was going to find her a training partner that she couldn't beat with a toothbrush as a weapon, which had happened with one of her earlier trainers when he tried to drag her out of bed at three in the morning and then not let her take a shower. If he could have beaten her she would have gone without a complaint.

Nym whistled wrapped in fond remembrance of her rein of terror over the nursing staff and of her new found freedom, while Sephiroth was in a state of invisible panic. He normally went of his way to avoid several of the people he needed to subject his little sister to. _We have to go to my apartment first anyway, she can't be walking around with all this ammunition._

"My apartment's on the forty-eighth floor, number 1, regular barracks are forty-six and forty-seven, and I'll show the rest of the important stuff later today. I'm gonna let you take one specialized weapon with you cause that's all I think people will be comfortable with and we'll drop the others off at my place, where you'll be staying for a couple of days before we get your living situation sorted out. Since Hojo doesn't want you with the other thirds and I honestly agree with him. They're absolute pigs." Sephiroth had a habit of telling people what was going to happen when he got nervous, probably from the war when the only times he was nervous would be the times when he needed to set up battle plans and lead troops.

"So this is kind of like bring your little sis to work day, right?" Nym said, poking him lightly on the arm, listening to his rant, but choosing not to respond to it. She wanted to cheer him up because he was obviously not happy with his current set of tasks.

"Yeah, I guess that's right..." The elevator made the typical ding, signaling they had reached their floor. "Here we are, floor 48, officer's quarters, home sweet home." His apartment wasn't long from the elevator, the first doors on the left. Nym skipped to the door and then turned around to eye him impatiently. Sephiroth walked slower on purpose.

"Do I get to meet your neighbors, brother?" Nym asked, suddenly excited.

"You'll meet them eventually, they're probably working right now." There was actually one neighbor in particular that he was scared to introduce his sister to. Not for the same reasons he was agitated about the other introductions, but because he didn't know if the world could withstand Nym Jenova and Zack Fair in the same room as each other, let alone communicating. No, he would spare the populous that threat for at least a couple more days, if possible.

"You're not even going to check? I could go knock or something." She motioned like she was going to go to the next door over; Zack's door. When his eyes widened just a fraction of a millimeter she stopped and narrowed hers. "You don't want me to see him? Why not?" Sephiroth knew that his best friend was almost definitely in his apartment since he had just gotten back from a mission. Trying to keep them apart would be hard.

"He's sick."

The elevator doors opened behind him and he winced, knowing that, by murphy's law, it was Zack getting off the lift. A loud voice verified that fact, "Sephy! I didn't know you were going to be out of the office today, I was actually going to go up and bug you, but you weren't there!" And with that, the general was screaming on the inside. He didn't have the patience to deal with them both at once at the moment and to top it off, they were both calling him 'Sephy'. Nym practically ran forward, stopping in front of Zack and Sephiroth.

"You're a friend of Sephy's?" Nym asked the spiky, raven haired man. She shot a quick glance to Sephiroth before he could answer.

"Yeah, the name's Zack Fair, SOLDIER 1st Class, and occupant of apartment number three. Also part time love boat, if you were wondering." He winked cheekily, but was cut off by a glare of daggers on Sephiroth's part. "Ha, h-ha, I get it. So you're Nym, I've heard so much about you. It's good to finally have you within our ranks as SOLDIER."

"Well, Sephy, it seems he's quite healthy. Thank Gaia for that," Nym mentioned exaggeratedly, punching him lightly on the arm. Zack looked reasonably confused at the exchange and Sephiroth was close to needing to break something.

"Nym, let me take you to the guest room, so you can put your things down. Remember, just one weapon. We'll see you around Zack." Sephiroth let out a disdainful sigh before pulling Nym into the apartment by the scruff of her neck, causing her to screech and hiss, thrashing in protest. She may have been as fast as her brother, but strength-wise, she was still far from comparing.

"Seph! Put me down! what do you think you're doing!? Put me down! I'm going to scratch your eyes out, you butt!"

"Aw, Sephy, put 'er down, she's acting like a wet kitten," the other SOLDIER joked, staying safely out of harms way of the two as they walked through the living area.

"I'm her general, she's going to have to learn how to behave around me every once in a while." At her brother's calm statement, the youngest took a deep breath, letting herself go limp. He was right. She couldn't act like this in the army. The look on her face however was one of utter contempt at being manhandled like she was.

"You two are adorable. Looks like you've got a real kitty on your hands, with this one. The both of you," Zack chuckled and shook his head

"Shut up, Zack," the silver-headed siblings said in unison as Sephiroth set Nym gently down in front of her door, which she threw open, tossing the rack of weapons on the bed while grabbing the Meteor Blade in the air.

"Done! Ready to go, boss!"

"Not so fast, Nym. Change into your 3rd class SOLDIER uniform," Sephiroth said as he handed her a stack of clothes. "You've got to look sharp for the next couple hours. The people we're meeting aren't normally the type to shrug off first impressions." Nym looked idly at the stack of clothes in front of her, particularly the belt and suspenders that she knew went over them.

"How am I going to get these to work, brother?" She inquired with the rig in her hands, holding it up against herself. Eyes locked expectantly on her brother's for an answer, she quirked an eyebrow then glanced to Zack, who was standing a couple meters back with a slight blush on his face. Sephiroth didn't get it. "Seph, you can't really think that these would fit over...these," And with that, she gestured openly to her chest, which although wasn't giant, it certainly wasn't as flat as a man's. It wasn't often that the general was outwardly embarrassed, but he definitely was now. He looked quickly from his little sister to Zack, who was struggling to hold in laughter at the bizarre situation unfolding in front of him.

"Uhhh, Zack? Do you know what the female SOLDIERs do to deal with this? I have never been aware of it..." The general fumbled his words like a little boy that knew of the existence of female anatomy, but had never talked about it before. It made Nym wonder if he ever did anything, outside of work related things. _Inside his hard, mature shell, Sephiroth is just a socially awkward guy I guess. _Totally cocky and arrogant with the things he was good at, like sword fighting and leading the strongest army in the world, but completely unpracticed with everyday life, even just talking to people.

"Just wear the belt for now, Nym. I've got a girl-SOLDIER acquaintance that would probably know the answer. Now that I think of it, I think they wear thinner ones that are more off to the side. I'll try to get my hands on some." Sephiroth's relief that his buddy stepped in was almost tangible, letting out a breath that he didn't realize he'd been holding.

"...Okay? I'm just going to go...change now..." Never would she have thought that such a simple question would bring such an atypical response from the two swordsman. There were currently only three woman in SOLDIER, not including her. _I guess it's not that strange a response..._

She closed the door behind her as she stripped out of the skirt and leggings she normally wore and pulling the baggy blue pants on in their place. She never noticed how skinny she was, but this was most likely the smallest size and they hung loosely around her hips, hopefully the belt would help with that. The sleeveless turtleneck and metal shoulder guards made her feel a little better about her size, as the thick material added a bit of bulk to her frame, the shoulder guards just made her look bigger and more menacing. No way in hell was she wearing the helmet. A knock sounded at the door just as she was fixing the last buckle on the leather belts. Zack let himself in.

"I thought is was impolite to walk in on a lady who was supposed to be changing," Nym joked, not really caring about the intrusion.

"Ha, yeah. I guess that's true, but you're not exactly a lady. You're a SOLDIER just the same as me or Sephy now. Don't worry, I can still treat you like one if you want me to."

"No need, I've never really been treated like that, it would be weird to start now." A small part of her, deep down, wanted to know what being treated like a lady was like, but she shrugged off the feeling with a trickster grin. She walked tantalizingly slow towards the door and Zack, stalling just in front of him.

"So," she whispered, placing a hand on Zack's shoulder and leaning into his ear, "Can I ask you something?"


End file.
